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The Immortality Complex
Not yet published
Expected 16 Apr 21A science fiction short story from Jeff Walker, author of The Long Lost War, Your Service Is Required, and The Mysterious World of Professor Darkk and Miss Shadow.
Simon Janson died at the end of his life, only to be reborn into a new body and his mind uploaded to it. Now he must live in a world where death is no longer a factor in human beings anymore. Simon travels beyond Earth to find meaning in his life now, stumbling upon a new love and new challenges. But can he cope with living forever? Is better to die rather than live on and on with no end? As humanity continues to improve and stretch out into the cosmos, Simon feels the burden of being immortal.
Simon Janson died at the end of his life, only to be reborn into a new body and his mind uploaded to it. Now he must live in a world where death is no longer a factor in human beings anymore. Simon travels beyond Earth to find meaning in his life now, stumbling upon a new love and new challenges. But can he cope with living forever? Is better to die rather than live on and on with no end? As humanity continues to improve and stretch out into the cosmos, Simon feels the burden of being immortal.
- GenresScience Fiction
ebook
Expected publication April 16, 22021
4 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Walker
25 books60 followersJeff Walker is a Canadian writer of science fiction, sci fi/fantasy, and paranormal/horror/weird fiction. His books comprise distant worlds, futuristic timelines, scary inter-dimensional beings, and protagonist characters of diverse personalities. So, basically... they’ll keep you interested. The 2020 Author Elite Awards placed his book The Long Lost War as a top ten finalist in the category of Science Fiction. Not too shabby, right?
Besides writing and continually looking at social media posts (we’re all slaves to it!), he tries his best to parent two energetic children with his loving wife, and keep his sanity while working his day job as a Custodian. He started out writing fan fiction (Batman Beyond, Doctor Who, The Transformers, Blade Runner...), but soon honed his talent and focused on original stories with characters to call his own. He’s a major geek for anything related to comic books, Star Trek or Star Wars, and anything dealing with the supernatural or paranormal.
And yes, he thinks the sequel trilogy of Star Wars was disappointing. (Who wouldn’t think that?)
You can follow him on his website blog, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. TikTok, not so much, he’s still trying to figure it out.
"There is no greater challenge than creating a story from scratch. A hard thing to do when basically everything has been pretty much created by now. But, that is the challenge isn't it?"
Besides writing and continually looking at social media posts (we’re all slaves to it!), he tries his best to parent two energetic children with his loving wife, and keep his sanity while working his day job as a Custodian. He started out writing fan fiction (Batman Beyond, Doctor Who, The Transformers, Blade Runner...), but soon honed his talent and focused on original stories with characters to call his own. He’s a major geek for anything related to comic books, Star Trek or Star Wars, and anything dealing with the supernatural or paranormal.
And yes, he thinks the sequel trilogy of Star Wars was disappointing. (Who wouldn’t think that?)
You can follow him on his website blog, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. TikTok, not so much, he’s still trying to figure it out.
"There is no greater challenge than creating a story from scratch. A hard thing to do when basically everything has been pretty much created by now. But, that is the challenge isn't it?"
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 12, 2024
I read this novella as part of the Secret Scribes judging group for the Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championship (SFINCS). This review is my personal opinion and does not solely determine if this story will move onto the next phase of the competition.
Simon Janson decides on his deathbed to submit to a new procedure that places his mind into a synthetic body. He “dies” surrounded by his loving family only to wake up forty years later, on a space station with everyone he knew and loved dead or missing.
Simon journeys across the solar system in his new immortal body as he reminisces about his past and tries to seek companionship in the strange future. A visit to the moon leads to a chance meeting with Glenda, another first generation synthetic with a similarly tragic past.
Starting the story on Simon's deathbed after a full life of ninety four years was a compelling opener. It added a sort of fatigue to the POV character right off the bat that permeated throughout the story which was broken up into three main sections. The second section which involved a pseudo relationship with Glenda was the most compelling, whose apprehension from her past life clouded her budding relationship and gave a nice parallel to Simon's internal struggles.
While I enjoyed Walker's themes, I don't think he went far enough in exploring them to have a good through-line between each of the three sections. There were a couple instances where Simon insisted that he was old fashioned and couldn't picture himself with someone who wasn't a woman before their body replacement (even though the synthetic bodies allowed for infinite possibilities in how somebody could look). I was expecting this to tie in closely with Simon's character arc, but even when he ended up with an AI companion, it was never a character choice for him to change his old fashioned mentality, instead all it took was a concerned look from a hologen (AI) and he decided that they were human enough.
Aside from that I was hoping for a bit more existential horror vibes from this type of story, but instead of delving deeper into the loneliness, it came off more as a romance plot.
In the end, I enjoyed reading The Immortality Complex. It's a quick read for fans of immortality, space travel, and cool technological advancements.
Simon Janson decides on his deathbed to submit to a new procedure that places his mind into a synthetic body. He “dies” surrounded by his loving family only to wake up forty years later, on a space station with everyone he knew and loved dead or missing.
Simon journeys across the solar system in his new immortal body as he reminisces about his past and tries to seek companionship in the strange future. A visit to the moon leads to a chance meeting with Glenda, another first generation synthetic with a similarly tragic past.
Starting the story on Simon's deathbed after a full life of ninety four years was a compelling opener. It added a sort of fatigue to the POV character right off the bat that permeated throughout the story which was broken up into three main sections. The second section which involved a pseudo relationship with Glenda was the most compelling, whose apprehension from her past life clouded her budding relationship and gave a nice parallel to Simon's internal struggles.
While I enjoyed Walker's themes, I don't think he went far enough in exploring them to have a good through-line between each of the three sections. There were a couple instances where Simon insisted that he was old fashioned and couldn't picture himself with someone who wasn't a woman before their body replacement (even though the synthetic bodies allowed for infinite possibilities in how somebody could look). I was expecting this to tie in closely with Simon's character arc, but even when he ended up with an AI companion, it was never a character choice for him to change his old fashioned mentality, instead all it took was a concerned look from a hologen (AI) and he decided that they were human enough.
Aside from that I was hoping for a bit more existential horror vibes from this type of story, but instead of delving deeper into the loneliness, it came off more as a romance plot.
In the end, I enjoyed reading The Immortality Complex. It's a quick read for fans of immortality, space travel, and cool technological advancements.
September 11, 2024
At times this is an almost flippant examination of immortality in a Sci Fi setting. In other areas it's entirely bleak and gut-punching. Good gut-punching, that is.
An elderly man, at the request of his family, dies. His conscience is uploaded into a synthetic body where he retains all of his memories and personality. In effect, humanity has found a way to cheat death entirely in this way. As time passes and he becomes estranged from his family, he instead spends time travelling the solar system.
While put forward as a study of infinite existence, there's almost, *almost* an element of cosmic horror in this too, at least in the author's own apparent admission that the concept of immortality is one that scared him since childhood. In a way I didn't feel the tone of the story in parts quite matched that opening essay of the novella; the story zig zags from a cosy Sci Fi story to an endless dystopia and back again which distracted me from what I took to be the book's message.
Still, there are definite moments in the book that the author nails. There's a real heartbreaker of a moment that comes out of nowhere, only it makes so much sense when you flick back. I enjoyed the exploration of a technology where synthetic bodies fast become an avatar where individuality flourishes before evolving to something else.
A curious read, then, and one well-worth finishing in one sitting.
An elderly man, at the request of his family, dies. His conscience is uploaded into a synthetic body where he retains all of his memories and personality. In effect, humanity has found a way to cheat death entirely in this way. As time passes and he becomes estranged from his family, he instead spends time travelling the solar system.
While put forward as a study of infinite existence, there's almost, *almost* an element of cosmic horror in this too, at least in the author's own apparent admission that the concept of immortality is one that scared him since childhood. In a way I didn't feel the tone of the story in parts quite matched that opening essay of the novella; the story zig zags from a cosy Sci Fi story to an endless dystopia and back again which distracted me from what I took to be the book's message.
Still, there are definite moments in the book that the author nails. There's a real heartbreaker of a moment that comes out of nowhere, only it makes so much sense when you flick back. I enjoyed the exploration of a technology where synthetic bodies fast become an avatar where individuality flourishes before evolving to something else.
A curious read, then, and one well-worth finishing in one sitting.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews